Shop Local is an enlightening, inspiring and transformational guide that will change the way you shop forever. In this book, the author shares real-world stories highlighting why it makes sense to buy from local neighborhood businesses. She shows how rewarding and fun it is to shop at local indie businesses instead of going to major chain stores and how this helps our communities. Packed with clever ideas and easy-to-follow tips, the book offers all you need to support local indie businesses and shop local.
There are few books that surprise their readers on every page-even fewer that show readers how to live. Boldly, the OUROH trilogy does both. Trevor and Trudy, siblings from Earth, take an unforgettable journey through these pages, a journey you will gladly take alongside them; they're the kind of inspiring characters that live and breathe on the page and live on in your mind and heart long after the story's final word. You can't help but root for and identify with them. Their journey is rich with the power of words and wishes, spoken and unspoken. It's a journey not only through time (recycled time), but past time; not only through our known universe, but past it to another, and another (Ouroh is the center of thirteen multiverses); not only through our minds and senses, but past what we've been conditioned to perceive to a whole new way of seeing and knowing. This epic tale has been created by a master storyteller and modern-day philosopher, one who understands that acknowledging life's interconnectedness and relying on present-moment awareness are the keys to true happiness. But you won't be pummeled with speeches or agendas; instead, this wisdom is skillfully woven into the narrative's fabric. Trevor and Trudy are joined by Ideas and Imagination, their Ouroh counterparts, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, including the fascinating Planimals (part plant, part animal, in a myriad of astounding varieties). Thrumming with heart-pounding tension and suspense, the story asks: Will the children save the multiverses from an errant word? Will they "right the word that went wrong"? In a time when people complain that there is nothing new under the sun, it is quite a rare achievement to discover a book unlike any other. The OUROH trilogy is a true gift indeed.
A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight With a New Afterword In less than two decades, large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising pollution and diminished civic engagement—and she shows how a growing number of communities and independent businesses are effectively fighting back. Mitchell traces the dramatic growth of mega-retailers—from big boxes like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, and Staples to chains like Starbucks, Olive Garden, Blockbuster, and Old Navy—and the precipitous decline of independent businesses. Drawing on examples from virtually every state in the country, she unearths the extraordinary impact of these companies and the big-box mentality on everything from soaring gasoline consumption to rising poverty rates, failing family farms, and declining voting levels. Along the way, Mitchell exposes the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small, locally owned businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by a few large chains. More than a critique, Big-Box Swindle provides an invigorating account of how some communities have successfully countered the spread of big boxes and rebuilt their local economies. Since 2000, more than two hundred big-box development projects have been halted by groups of ordinary citizens, and scores of towns and cities have adopted laws that favor small-scale, local business development and limit the proliferation of chains. From cutting-edge land-use policies to innovative cooperative small-business initiatives, Mitchell offers communities concrete strategies that can stave off mega-retailers and create a more prosperous and sustainable future.
In Living Wild, bestselling 'plantfluencer', author, designer and family man Hilton Carter explores multiple ways to style your home with plants – and cultivate happiness along the way.. The therapeutic benefits of living with and tending plants are well known – they offer a connection to the natural world that nurtures our mental and physical health. In this, his latest book, Hilton shows how to create a lush, stylish space with flourishing plants that bring life to your home and promote a happy and contented mindset. He discusses interior design choices – choosing the right color scheme, textures and materials to showcase gorgeous greenery – then takes a deep dive into styling. From picking the perfect planter to statement plants and taking in centrepieces, living art and hanging planters plus outdoors spaces and plants for kids along the way, Living Wild is packed with interior design and styling ideas that blur the boundary beside inside and out. Finally, we visit 8 unique homes that have been plant styled by Hilton and take a detailed look at his top ten designer plants, along with care and info tips.
Affordable Paradise dispells the myth that it is expensive to live in Hawaii. The reader will learn the secrets of anyone with the desire to do so can afford to live in Hawaii. Also covered in detail are the reasons why Hawaii is not everyones paradise.
In Slightly Slower 66, John Mulhern III writes about traveling a total of 6,094 miles in fifteen days, including eight wonderful days on Route 66 itself. The route goes through sixteen widely (and wildly!) different states including not only stops in the big cities of Chicago, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and Denver, but also nights spent in the small cities and towns of Tucumcari, Holbrook, and Barstow. The expected adventures on the road yield to visits with friends old and new, encounters with various other Corvettes and other vehicles of interest, and more than a few great places to eat, sometimes in the most unexpected places.
